


Don't Worry, It's Just a Scratch

by Iamacarrot



Series: Angst, just because [3]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Brotherly Love, Canon-Typical Violence, Lion King (1994) References, Magic Deer, Major Character Injury, no happy ending, stampede
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 11:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18590755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamacarrot/pseuds/Iamacarrot
Summary: Mikey and Leo venture down into the Hidden City for reasons unknown, and run into more danger than they'd hoped for.





	Don't Worry, It's Just a Scratch

"I bet... that I can eat some of this blue glow-y grass, and not get sick." Mikey chimed, waddling around in said grass.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. We don't know  _what_ lives down here." Leo muttered. "Better to be safe than sorry."

"Ew. You sound like Donnie." Mikey commented, giggling as he was pulled into a headlock.

"Maybe I should start being all science-y and sarcastic like him too, huh?"

"NO! Lemme go!"

The two brothers then laughed as they fell into the grass, rolling around and wrestling playfully. Now, of course, the grass wasn't from the human world, due to its innate ability to glow in both the daytime and the nighttime. Earlier in the week, Leo had planned to go down to the Hidden City, and Mikey had found out not too long after. Naturally, Mikey begged Leo to go, and won his older brother over with his trademark baby blues in full effect.

"Take that! Ya little scoundrel!" Leo shouted, snickering as he was pushed off. "Alright. Now, with  _that_ over. Let me show you something. Pull up your scales on your left arm, right above your wrist."

Mikey did as told, watching Leo do the same, and gasping as he noticed that the brothers both had the same, crescent moon shaped mark on their arms. With wide eyes, Mikey looked to his brother for an explanation.

"You and I are the same. Whether we're blood related or not. You'll always be my little brother, and I'll always be your big brother. Nothing will stop that." Leo stated. "Because we're best buds!"

"Yeah! And we're always gonna be best buds for the rest of forever! Right, Leo?" Mikey replied, his large smile fading at the solemn sigh he received.

"Miguel, let me tell you something that I once read out of Pops' books; when I get older, and when I- inevitably -die, then my soul will become part of yours. After that, we'll both truly be one, and your mark will be a full crescent." Leo explained. "Once that crescent is full, you'll be ready to fight off every enemy that crosses your path! All the villains will be terrified!"

"Whoa... cool." Mikey gasped. "But, you know something?"

"What?"

"I think they're even scareder when they see all of us together!" Mikey chimed, earning himself a chuckle.

"That's right. Because no one messes with our baby brother and gets away with it." Leo confirmed, fist bumping Mikey.

With that settled, the brothers stood, walking farther into the blue grass. No words were said, and silence reigned, until Mikey suddenly pushed Leo down a sandy bank, following soon after. Laughter and shouts of surprise followed the boys until they finally landed at the edge of the bank, Leo gracelessly landing face first in the water, and Mikey making a successful dismount next to his brother.

"That was fun!" Mikey giggled, grunting as he was leg swept onto his back.

"Never do that again." Leo huffed, wiping himself down.

Snickering, Mikey playfully punched Leo's arm, rushing off, and squealing as Leo followed him. A few miles in, and Mikey found himself atop a rocky cliff, looking around for any sign of his blue clad brother. When he saw nothing, Mikey pursed his lips, slowly and cautiously moving down the cliff, and into the gorge that it created, intending to climb the other side to get a better view of things.

Before he could, however, Mikey was tackled onto the ground, whining and complaining as he was pinned. Mikey's assailant, who was none other than Leo, laughed in triumph, backing away and accepting the kitten hits he was "assaulted" with.

"I thought it'd be fun to get payback." Leo simply remarked. "Now, come on. That side of the cliff is way too steep. If you tried to climb that, you'd die."

"Sure I would." Mikey replied.

"Oh, it's true! If the altitude doesn't get you, then the doubt of safety will. One wrong move, and you're down the cliff in one second." Leo chuckled, frowning at the whimper Mikey let out. "But, that's why we stay away from dangerous things like that, yeah?"

"Yeah." Mikey agreed, he and Leo climbing up the smaller cliff they'd entered the gorge from. "I don't get why we- Hey! Mystic deer!"

Leo sighed, rolling his eyes and keeping a close eye on his brother. Mikey gasped and squealed lightly as he walked up to the deer, reaching his hand out. The mystic deer huffed, looking to Mikey's hand, and sniffing it. After doing so, the deer sneezed, turning and running farther into area.

"Wait! Come back Mr. Deer! I wanna pet you!" Mikey whined, following after the deer.

"What am I gonna do with him?" Leo muttered, pulling out his phone, and starting a random conversation with the others.

_Neon Leon: 'sup?_

_Big Red: Leo! Where are you and Mikey?!_

_Neon Leon: Somewhere down in the Hidden City. We were walking around, then we wrestled for a bit. Now Mikey's chasing after a deer, and I'm texting you guys. :p_

_O'Neil: Wait, Mikey's by himself???_

_Donatello: Leon, that is a murder call waiting to happen._

_Big Red: O_o_

_Neon Leon: -_-_

_O'Neil: (/*^*)/_

_Donatello: It's the truth. You can't hide from it._

_Neon Leon: Yeah? W-_

"LEO! HELP ME!"

At that scream, Leo left the conversation, running towards where he'd heard the call, and finding Mikey in no time at all, whose leg was caught in a bear trap.

"IT HURTS!" Mikey wailed, trying to move, and gasping as a loud  _CRUNCH_ followed the action, causing Mikey to let out an unholy scream.

Then, much to Leo's horror, a large herd of mystic deer were frightened by the sound, and bellowed as they started to stampede. More specifically, towards the brothers.

"No. NO! Mikey! Hold on, I'll get you out!"

_"HURRY!"_

Doing the best he could, Leo attempted to open the trap, but found it impossible to do so. With restrained reluctance, Leo used his sword to try and snap the trap open. The attempt, however, was futile, and Leo cursed, picking Mikey up, and gasping as he realized that there was a chain attached to the ground. Looking to the stampede, which was quickly drawing closer, Leo gently lay Mikey down, getting onto the ground, and using his teeth and claws to tear at the chain, mentally cheering as the attempt worked.

Once this was done, Leo picked Mikey up once more, rushing off as fast as possible, before coming to terms with the fact that he'd never be fast enough to avoid the herd. Growling, Leo looked to a ledge, hopping up, and placing Mikey on it. With a fearful- but determined -gaze, Leo looked up to Mikey, smiling and placing a hand on Mikey's cheek.

"Leo? What are you doing?" Mikey asked.

"Stay here." Leo ordered. "It'll be okay."

"Leo, please don't do what I think you're doing!"

"I'll be fine. Just. Stay. Here."

And, with that, Leo jumped back from the ledge, pulling his ōdachi out, and rushing towards the herd.

"LEO!" Mikey screamed, backing up as the herd started to pass by the ledge, leaving Mikey to fearfully look for his big brother.

No sign of the Red-Eared Slider could be found, and Mikey started to consider rushing into the herd to find Leo. That is, until Leo jumped out of the herd, yelling with vigor, and looking down, watching as a few deer fell into a portal he'd made. Mikey gasped, excitedly trilling, and calling his brother over. With a large smile, Leo ran up to Mikey, the two hugging as soon as they were within range.

Sniffling, Mikey nuzzled into his brother's neck, purring, before his nose picked up the scent of something familiar. Something  _dangerously_ familiar. It had the scent of copper. And the scent was wafting through the air, as if its source was heavy. Looking down, Mikey gasped loudly at the sight of Leo's heavily bleeding side.

"It's okay, Miguel. Nothing a bit of patchwork can't fix." Leo whispered, groaning as he stood, picking Mikey up, and struggling to even stand.

"Leo-"

"I'm fine. There's nothing I'm worrying about more, than getting you home safe." Leo whispered, wiping away a stream of Mikey's tears. "Even if it's at my own expense."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Raph... Raph... Raph! They're home!" April announced.

The Snapper's head shot up in response, and his action was quickly emulated by Donnie, the two standing and running towards their younger brothers. Upon the sight of how injured Mikey and Leo were, Donnie immediately started talking medical nonsense, ordering Raph and April to go grab two cots out of the lab. Once the cots arrived, Mikey and Leo were placed down, their injuries being treated harshly at first, as the trap still needed to be removed, Mikey's ankle had to be set, and Leo needed a tight wrapping around his waist.

After the harsh treatment, however, Donnie eased up, and he took note of how worn out his brothers were.

"You look like you haven't slept in days." the Softshell worriedly chimed, taking note of his brothers' blood pressure and blood sugar every two to five minutes. "I'm a bit reluctant about letting you fall asleep, however. You need something to eat and drink, but you need not eat or drink too much."

"Don-"

"I'm stumped." Donnie interrupted, absentmindedly grabbing Leo's hands. "It's been forever since I've dealt with injuries this bad."

"Well, can you help them?" April asked, afraid of the answer.

"I... I can try."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Donnie, please. We can't-"

"It's been two months, Raph. They're in catatonic states, and the chances that they'll ever come out is... slim to none." Donnie huffed, holding back the tears that were pooling in the corners of his eyes.

"But, that means there's still a chance." April replied, a hint of hope in her voice.

"...I'm sorry. But we have to put them out of their misery." Donnie sadly stated. "You don't have to watch if you don't want to."

"We won't." April sighed.

With that, Donnie walked into the main atrium of the lair, where his brothers were sitting still, no sign of movement evident. A shaky sigh, and somewhat buckled knees led Donatello towards his brothers, nothing more in his hands, than a large shotgun.

"Donnie?" Mikey asked, looking to no one in particular. "Could you tell me the story about the stars again?"

Donatello sobbed, getting onto one knee, so as to be level with his brothers. A soft click, and a finger on the trigger, was the constant, taunting reminder of what he was about to do.

"Sure, sweetheart." Donnie whispered. "I'll tell you about the stars."


End file.
